The 30,000 Dollar Bequest and Other Stories eBook

to do to make it feel that it is among friends; but
it was a mistake—­it went into such fits
at the sight of the kangaroo that I was convinced
it had never seen one before. I pity the poor
noisy little animal, but there is nothing I can do
to make it happy. If I could tame it—­but
that is out of the question; the more I try the worse
I seem to make it. It grieves me to the heart
to see it in its little storms of sorrow and passion.
I wanted to let it go, but she wouldn’t hear
of it. That seemed cruel and not like her; and
yet she may be right. It might be lonelier than
ever; for since I cannot find another one, how could
it?

Fivemonthslater.—­It is
not a kangaroo. No, for it supports itself by
holding to her finger, and thus goes a few steps on
its hind legs, and then falls down. It is probably
some kind of a bear; and yet it has no tail—­as
yet—­and no fur, except upon its head.
It still keeps on growing—­that is a curious
circumstance, for bears get their growth earlier than
this. Bears are dangerous —­since
our catastrophe—­and I shall not be satisfied
to have this one prowling about the place much longer
without a muzzle on. I have offered to get her
a kangaroo if she would let this one go, but it did
no good—­she is determined to run us into
all sorts of foolish risks, I think. She was
not like this before she lost her mind.

A fortnightlater.—­I examined
its mouth. There is no danger yet: it has
only one tooth. It has no tail yet. It
makes more noise now than it ever did before—­and
mainly at night. I have moved out. But
I shall go over, mornings, to breakfast, and see if
it has more teeth. If it gets a mouthful of
teeth it will be time for it to go, tail or no tail,
for a bear does not need a tail in order to be dangerous.

Fourmonthslater.—­I have
been off hunting and fishing a month, up in the region
that she calls Buffalo; I don’t know why, unless
it is because there are not any buffaloes there.
Meantime the bear has learned to paddle around all
by itself on its hind legs, and says “poppa”
and “momma.” It is certainly a new
species. This resemblance to words may be purely
accidental, of course, and may have no purpose or
meaning; but even in that case it is still extraordinary,
and is a thing which no other bear can do. This
imitation of speech, taken together with general absence
of fur and entire absence of tail, sufficiently indicates
that this is a new kind of bear. The further
study of it will be exceedingly interesting.
Meantime I will go off on a far expedition among the
forests of the north and make an exhaustive search.
There must certainly be another one somewhere, and
this one will be less dangerous when it has company
of its own species. I will go straightway; but
I will muzzle this one first.

Threemonthslater.—­It has
been a weary, weary hunt, yet I have had no success.
In the mean time, without stirring from the home
estate, she has caught another one! I never saw
such luck. I might have hunted these woods a
hundred years, I never would have run across that
thing.